Larry Johnston: Muir's influence helped save the big trees

John Muir wrote: 'Any fool can destroy a tree; they cannot defend themselves or run away.'

Last week I walked you through the inspiring and formidable redwoods at Muir Woods National Monument. Today, we examine the extraordinary life of John Muir after whom the woods are aptly named. Muir was this nation's first and most influential nature writer.

Muir was born in 1838.

He enrolled in college, but never graduated. It was there he had an epiphany during his first botany lesson. Nature would forever be under his mindful scrutiny thereafter. He saw the world as no one else had seen it before. He could see its eternal past and threatened future.

He began traveling, first to Canada, then to Florida and Alaska before ending up in San Francisco by 1868 where he discovered the wonders of nearby Yosemite. Yosemite would be the site of some of his most inspired revelations and ideas.

For example, in 1872, he wrote, "No amount of word-making will ever make a single soul to 'know' these mountains. One day's exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books."

His eloquent and persuasive writings began to awake the American conservation conscience. He is considered the father of the National Park Service.

Nothing stirred his emotions more than the plundering of the stately redwoods.

For example, he once wrote, "Any fool can destroy a tree; they cannot defend themselves or run away." To demonstrate the absurdity of past abuses against them, he described how one huge redwood was once cut down just so the stump it left behind could be used as a dance floor.

But it was during a certain camping trip in 1903 with an admirer that may have done more than all the words he ever wrote. His companion was none other than Theodore Roosevelt. Upon his return to Washington, Roosevelt created 150 different national forests and 18 national monuments, one of which is the Grand Canyon. Muir had made quite an impression.

Muir died in 1914, but he is not forgotten. One of the monuments Roosevelt created in 1903 was Muir Woods.

Muir once spoke for the redwoods. Now they speak for him.

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Larry Johnston: Muir's influence helped save the big trees

'Any fool can destroy a tree; they cannot defend themselves or run away.'